09-28-2012
• http://www.investmentcontrarians.com
There are the rich and then there are the mega-rich. A study showed that those with a net worth of at least $25.0 million tend to spend more lavishly on vacations and home renovations, compared to their spending on clothing, cars, and jewelry, according to the Spectrem Group. Then there’s the CEO of Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ/ORCL), Larry Ellison, who purchased the sixth largest island in Hawaii for a cool $500 million. When you are worth over $30.0 billion, dropping half a billion dollars on an island is not a big deal.
As I recently discussed, the income gap between the top one to five percent of income earners and the other 95%–99% is widening, which will likely present problems down the road. In 2009, the Internal Revenue Service pegged the adjusted gross income (AGI) level for the top one percent club at $343,917. To be included in the top five percent, the AGI was $154,643.
While the presidential candidates debate about the economy and monetary policy, one thing is sure—Ame